Board 8 > Oh no, looks like Star Wars actually IS the worst fandom.

(+) Yeah! (+)

Theres also a big difference between 'person who likes star wars' and 'star wars fan'.

The second one has a set of movies and related products as a core portion of their identity the way other people might have like their jobs or hobbies that involve meeting people like alcohol or sports or cats or model railroads.

Those people have long been twisted by their perceived ownership of the franchise.

You just didnt really care when the thing they were rejected were the prequel movies but they have always been some of the worst people.

Its like gamergate all over again. You may consider yourself a gamer because you like playing games but if you have gamer as a core identity trait that generally is accompanied by some pretty toxic traits.
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That's not true at all. You can be a Star Wars fan and still be in a vacuum, separated from other Star Wars fans. You can have none of the traits you're complaining about and still consider a part of your core identity.

I know lots of gamers that log tons of hours every month playing and really couldn't tell you much if anything about gamergate.

*I* don't even know that much about GamerGate.
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Hardcore_Adult posted...

LapisLazuli posted...

scarletspeed7 posted...

How is the worst fanbase not MLP?

Isn't it dead? Haven't seen MLP brought up in years.

Seems to be on the wane after the movie but still active.

There was a movie??
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^ Yeah, Q4 last year.
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scarletspeed7 posted...

That's not true at all. You can be a Star Wars fan and still be in a vacuum, separated from other Star Wars fans. You can have none of the traits you're complaining about and still consider a part of your core identity.

I know lots of gamers that log tons of hours every month playing and really couldn't tell you much if anything about gamergate.

*I* don't even know that much about GamerGate.

Sure maybe in 1981.

In 2018? Bit less likely because if Star Wars is a core portion of your identity you're likely seeking out like minded people and finding them.
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scarletspeed7 posted...

That's not true at all. You can be a Star Wars fan and still be in a vacuum, separated from other Star Wars fans. You can have none of the traits you're complaining about and still consider a part of your core identity.

The media you consume should never be part of your core identity
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LapisLazuli posted...

scarletspeed7 posted...

How is the worst fanbase not MLP?

Isn't it dead? Haven't seen MLP brought up in years.

My boyfriend was pretty into it but I believe we stopped watching midway through 6, and I'm not 100% sure why. Now it's just a background thing he still appreciates if he sees it.
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Jakyl25 posted...

The media you consume should never be part of your core identity

why not?
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The only people cheering this are the Sonic and Smash Bros Melee fanbase.

Congrats, you have people worse than you!
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Eddv posted...

Theres also a big difference between 'person who likes star wars' and 'star wars fan'.

The second one has a set of movies and related products as a core portion of their identity the way other people might have like their jobs or hobbies that involve meeting people like alcohol or sports or cats or model railroads.

Those people have long been twisted by their perceived ownership of the franchise.

You just didnt really care when the thing they were rejected were the prequel movies but they have always been some of the worst people.

Its like gamergate all over again. You may consider yourself a gamer because you like playing games but if you have gamer as a core identity trait that generally is accompanied by some pretty toxic traits.

See, I don't get that. I'm so into video games that it is a part of my core identity. Maybe it is weird, like people who fixate "too much" on trains, but that's how I am.
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Eddv posted...

In 2018? Bit less likely because if Star Wars is a core portion of your identity you're likely seeking out like minded people and finding them.

I don't really agree with this. Like, the fandoms are the absolute worst part of almost anything there is to enjoy in the world. I'm perfectly content to consume it, enjoy it, love it, and stay the hell away from everyone else doing their damnedest to ruin it for me.
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You're either wrong about them being part of your identity or you arent understanding me.

I'm not saying 'guy who likes video games and plays them every day' because thats a staggering number of people under the age of 30.

I am talking about /gamers/ people who have that as who they are in this world. Who go onto twitter and get into fights over certain developers and who feel a sense of personal assault when they see gaming shifting away from them.
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Mr Lasastryke posted...

Jakyl25 posted...

The media you consume should never be part of your core identity

why not?

Because then your self-worth comes from what you watch instead of what you do.

And that leads to gatekeeping. For you to feel special as a fan, you have to drive out casuals. If a person who just sees the movies once is as valuable of a fan as someone whos home is a shrine to George Lucas, and your inward model of yourself comes from how loyal of a fan you are, you feel worthless.

We learned this lesson very harshly with gamers
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Xiahou Shake posted...

Eddv posted...

In 2018? Bit less likely because if Star Wars is a core portion of your identity you're likely seeking out like minded people and finding them.

I don't really agree with this. Like, the fandoms are the absolute worst part of almost anything there is to enjoy in the world. I'm perfectly content to consume it, enjoy it, love it, and stay the hell away from everyone else doing their damnedest to ruin it for me.

Congratulations you dont have Star Wars as part of your identity and are a healthier adult for it.
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paperwarior posted...

See, I don't get that. I'm so into video games that it is a part of my core identity.

Does your self worth come from gaming? If not, thats not what we mean
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It's treason, then.
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Jakyl25 posted...

Mr Lasastryke posted...

Jakyl25 posted...

The media you consume should never be part of your core identity

why not?

Because then your self-worth comes from what you watch instead of what you do.

And that leads to gatekeeping. For you to feel special as a fan, you have to drive out casuals. If a person who just sees the movies once is as valuable of a fan as someone whos home is a shrine to George Lucas, and your inward model of yourself comes from how loyal of a fan you are, you feel worthless.

We learned this lesson very harshly with gamers

In fairness, some fans can go take a long walk off a shot pier.
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Like, would you see this image and go Aww yeah

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/e5/ca/e1/e5cae19d7ee1976c4102434547d1dfae.jpg
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There are definitely lots of people who just like Star Wars a LOT and don't make it their identity. The vast majority of people at a Star Wars convention for example. Those aren't the small minority of people going online and raging on twitter.

The media as core identity thing is a bit misleading. It seemed to explain GGers pretty well, but I think it's something different. Having media as part of your identity is weird and dangerous, but it's not inherently toxic or harmful. Instead, the harmful thing is to have "being angry about media" as your core identity.

People like Vlado and Wang don't give a shit about games. Vlado probably hasn't played a video game since the PS1. The vast majority of video games, the artistic medium itself, the progression of the industry, none of this interests them at all. But being part of a community that gets really loud and angry about video games? THAT is one of their favorite things in the world. They only care if you threaten that community, their loudness/angriness, or worst of all, their belonging in that community.

It's the only way to explain why such a huge % of GGers don't actually play games at all (a higher % as time went on), and probably likewise with this Star Wars rage.
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I feel like what you guys are talking about is less "having something as a core part of your identity" and more "being a cringey asshole."

Then again I'm of the stance that literally everything we do is a part of our identity and our self worth ought to come from somewhere beyond all of that, so it sounds like it's mostly a philosophical difference.
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Remember this copypasta was once meant unironically

They targeted gamers.

Gamers.

We're a group of people who will sit for hours, days, even weeks on end performing some of the hardest, most mentally demanding tasks. Over, and over, and over all for nothing more than a little digital token saying we did.

We'll punish our selfs doing things others would consider torture, because we think it's fun.

We'll spend most if not all of our free time min maxing the stats of a fictional character all to draw out a single extra point of damage per second.

Many of us have made careers out of doing just these things: slogging through the grind, all day, the same quests over and over, hundreds of times to the point where we know evety little detail such that some have attained such gamer nirvana that they can literally play these games blindfolded.

Do these people have any idea how many controllers have been smashed, systems over heated, disks and carts destroyed 8n frustration? All to latter be referred to as bragging rights?

These people honestly think this is a battle they can win? They take our media? We're already building a new one without them. They take our devs? Gamers aren't shy about throwing their money else where, or even making the games our selves. They think calling us racist, mysoginistic, rape apologists is going to change us? We've been called worse things by prepubescent 10 year olds with a shitty head set. They picked a fight against a group that's already grown desensitized to their strategies and methods. Who enjoy the battle of attrition they've threatened us with. Who take it as a challange when they tell us we no longer matter. Our obsession with proving we can after being told we can't is so deeply ingrained from years of dealing with big brothers/sisters and friends laughing at how pathetic we used to be that proving you people wrong has become a very real need; a honed reflex.

Gamers are competative, hard core, by nature. We love a challange. The worst thing you did in all of this was to challange us. You're not special, you're not original, you're not the first; this is just another boss fight.

The original source currently sits at 389 upvotes.

The They is feminists
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Xiahou Shake posted...

I feel like what you guys are talking about is less "having something as a core part of your identity" and more "being a cringey asshole."

Then again I'm of the stance that literally everything we do is a part of our identity and our self worth ought to come from somewhere beyond all of that, so it sounds like it's mostly a philosophical difference.

I think so. Everyone loves to play games, so they are gamers, but theres a loud subset of that who cling to the moniker, getting enraged by anyone who would dare expand it beyond what kinds of people were gaming in 2002.
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Jakyl25 posted...

but theres a loud subset of that who cling to the moniker, getting enraged by anyone who would dare expand it beyond what kinds of people were gaming in 2002

Not a subset at all

That's the key distinction

It's a completely separate group that same some overlap
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Youre confusing identity with the core of who you are.

I wager Shake that you would be roughly the same person if you halved the amount of time you spent gaming.
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Eddv posted...

Youre confusing identity with the core of who you are.

I wager Shake that you would be roughly the same person if you halved the amount of time you spent gaming.

Or even just the name.

Like if I told you that you arent a true gamer, but didnt actually take any games away from you, would you care?
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Eddv posted...

You're either wrong about them being part of your identity or you arent understanding me.

I'm not saying 'guy who likes video games and plays them every day' because thats a staggering number of people under the age of 30.

I am talking about /gamers/ people who have that as who they are in this world. Who go onto twitter and get into fights over certain developers and who feel a sense of personal assault when they see gaming shifting away from them.

Well I don't do that but how major does an element of your life need to be to be associated with the self? I do feel a real sense of community with other people who play video games. I don't want to drive others away; if anything I'd like more of them to join in. It's impossible to ignore that a lot of people who play video games have bought into toxic political beliefs and become sort of video game tribalists, but that isn't inherent to having a sense of community, is it?
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paperwarior posted...

Well I don't do that but how major does an element of your life need to be to be associated with the self? I do feel a real sense of community with other people who play video games. I don't want to drive others away; if anything I'd like more of them to join in. It's impossible to ignore that a lot of people who play video games have bought into toxic political beliefs and become sort of video game tribalists, but that isn't inherent to having a sense of community, is it?

I would say that this shows that the core part of your identity is loving video games, not BEING a gamer. The actual act of gaming is much more important to you than the cultural label
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Jakyl25 posted...

Eddv posted...

Youre confusing identity with the core of who you are.

I wager Shake that you would be roughly the same person if you halved the amount of time you spent gaming.

Or even just the name.

Like if I told you that you arent a true gamer, but didnt actually take any games away from you, would you care?

I would think you were one of the dumbass people you're citing as a problem here. >.>
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It's natural that people who (foolishly) dedicated a huge part of their lives to a fictional universe get angry when somebody else buys it out, and shits all over it.
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paperwarior posted...

Jakyl25 posted...

Eddv posted...

Youre confusing identity with the core of who you are.

I wager Shake that you would be roughly the same person if you halved the amount of time you spent gaming.

Or even just the name.

Like if I told you that you arent a true gamer, but didnt actually take any games away from you, would you care?

I would think you were one of the dumbass people you're citing as a problem here. >.>

Exactly!
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I agree with Shake btw

"Hardcore Gamers" and "Hardcore Star Wars fans" as you guys define them are going to be cringey independent of the fandom. They're just socially awkward people clinging to something. Take that away and they'll cling to something else. People who are on Twitter or Facebook 12 hours a day aren't much better, really.

Doesn't really have to do with how much enthusiasm they have for Star Wars or whatever else. I know a few completely "normal" Star Wars fans. And by Star Wars fans I mean people who have read EU Books, people who have played the Star Wars pen and paper Role Playing Game, people who own the Star Wars Epic Duels board game (awesome game btw)

I mean are they less hardcore than people who frequent message boards about Star Wars? I'm not really sure. I bet you've got some people on those boards that aren't as deep into the lore.
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Lopen posted...

"Hardcore Gamers" and "Hardcore Star Wars fans" as you guys define them are going to be cringey independent of the fandom. They're just socially awkward people clinging to something. Take that away and they'll cling to something else. People who are on Twitter or Facebook 12 hours a day aren't much better, really.

This is kind of a chicken/egg reversal of the concept. Neat twist!

I dont feel as though people are inherently doomed to be socially awkward, beyond those that have a personality disorder.

Social confidence only takes practice, IMO.
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I think Lopen has a point there

Star Wars and Rick and Morty both have some of that appeal that causes people of a certain cringiness to gravitate towards them
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To be fair I do think having socially awkward people interact with socially awkward people tends to exacerbate the problem so it's probably not quite as simple as "they'd just be socially awkward somewhere else" but I'm just saying normal Star Wars fans exist and it's not cause they're not hardcore enough they just don't find message boards focused on Star Wars worth their time.

Heck I'm close to being one of them (normal or a Star Wars fan take your pick)
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Oh I dont think anyones really arguing that.

Weve spent a lot of time carving the difference between people who like Star Wars and people who define themselves by Star Wars fandom.
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Well the people I'm describing are definitely more than a few steps ahead of "people who like Star Wars" is more what I'm getting at. I think you can get really deep into the lore without being defined by it. And as I said I would wager a lot of people who are "defined by it" aren't as deep into the lore as some people I know.

I mean I guess to broaden what I was saying I would say if you define yourself by a fandom you're probably socially awkward to begin with. So yeah it is kinda chicken and egg there.
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Lopen posted...

"Hardcore Gamers" and "Hardcore Star Wars fans" as you guys define them are going to be cringey independent of the fandom. They're just socially awkward people clinging to something.

This except I would replace "socially awkward" with "obsessive and entitled"

You can be socially awkward and still perfectly chill about whatever things you're a fan of
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Lopen posted...

but I'm just saying normal Star Wars fans exist and it's not cause they're not hardcore enough they just don't find message boards focused on Star Wars worth their time.

That describes me. I'm a hardcore fan enough to get Kylo's lightsaber tattooed on my arm, but god damn I just don't have the energy to argue with fanboys on message boards about why the Last Jedi is the best movie.

Negativity always seems to get more vocal than positivity. I guess because if you hate something, you're more likely to bitch about it. Whereas if you like something, it gets tiresome to constantly defend it. At some point you just have to concede that haters gonna hate.
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Gatarix posted...

You can be socially awkward and still perfectly chill about whatever things you're a fan of

yeah I mean look at me
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Heroic Bigpun posted...

FakeAccount3000 posted...

Heroic Bigpun posted...

There's no harassment

There's no destruction of property.

There's even a tinge of manners and respect

But that is still one of the most facepalmest, nerdiest, most cringiest things I've ever seen

It's amazing

Clearly you didn't read the whole thing where it said they wanted to bring about her destruction and the destruction of her career

I mean, that's dippy but it's also harassment. >_>

I'm still amazed how much people talk about the leia space thing that I've literally not even thought about that hard while watching the film.

Okay nevermind then. I hope you don't blame me for not wanting to read the whole thing

Not in the least, its really dumb.
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Eddv posted...

Theres also a big difference between 'person who likes star wars' and 'star wars fan'.

Yeah, a 'person who likes Star Wars' likes Star Wars, while a 'Star Wars fan' hates it.
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Gatarix posted...

You can be socially awkward and still perfectly chill about whatever things you're a fan of

I get it, but I don't entirely agree.

I mean people may feel awkward socially or whatever while being chill, but I feel like if you're chill about things you don't really project awkwardness to nearly the extent you think you do if that makes sense.
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Yeah it's not about socially awkward or too passionate or any of these other soft excuses. There's a lot of people like that and they are annoying but they're not the ones drafting twitter declarations on parchment paper.

There's just a ton of people who consciously enjoy being angry in order to feel a sense of belonging and purpose in their otherwise empty lives. We have a bunch here so it shouldn't be a mystery at all really.
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Wow that was beyond cringey.
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